The City of Belleville is moving ahead with a major waterfront subdivision development.

Council voted to have the city execute an agreement with site owners Belle Harbour LP for the construction of the Dockside Quinte condominium project to build on vacant lands in the area near Crate Marine at 25 Dundas St. West at its meeting on Monday.

The project proposes three buildings with 302 apartment units and commercial space and a marina at 25 Dundas Street West, west of the Moira River, beside the Ramada Hotel.

A report from the city's Engineering and Development department states the proposed subdivision will see an extension of Old Bay Bridge Rd. into a cul-de-sac at the west property limit, which will be deeded to the city.

This project, staff noted in the report, aligns with the city’s strategic objective to plan for and invest in new or expanded infrastructure, to provide sufficient capacity for growth in the community.

However, the agreement and related documentation will not be signed until the Manager of Approvals advises that the site owners have satisfied all the requirements outlined by the city.

These are all part of an overall record of site condition, which includes making sure the project engineer signs off on the suitability of the lands for construction, municipal servicing, and sufficient contamination levels.

Coun. Garnet Thompson, who is the only member of council that served when this project was first proposed in 2014, said he thinks this type of project will be a boon for the city and places further attention of the public on its waterfront and its connection to downtown.

“We're going to be adding the biggest value to our waterfront if everything goes right for the approval for these three towers to go up and the number of people that are going to be moving downtown,” he said.

“This shows Belleville is definitely on the move for the waterfront.”

Chris Malette noted public acceptance of the project has been quite high over the last number of years, but consternation still remained from residents who wished to see the area near the water kept as environmentally friendly as possible with green space.

He also raised issues about access to and from the property on Old Bay Bridge Rd.

However, Director of Engineering Stephen Ashton told him and the rest of council, staff is confident in the final proposal as it stands.

“This is a plan that's been in process for a long time,” he said.

“There's been about seven renditions of the plans. During this review, all staff departments, including the engineering department, as well as the parks department, have been involved with the review and providing comments on this plan.”

“It has been very well vetted, and nobody has concerns.”

Belleville Mayor Mitch Panciuk said the developers have been working hard to ensure the project comes to reality by taking part in consultations with city staff members.

He added he is excited to see the impact the new development will have on mitigating the area’s housing crisis.

“Any type of housing, whether it be affordable housing, or even high-end housing helps, because it creates more supply in the market,” explained Panciuk.

“So, for this project to go ahead would be phenomenal news," he added, especially coming on the heels of recent high quality of living, city growth and net migration rankings from Maclean's Magazine, CTV News and U-Haul.

"All of those things point to a hot housing market with lots of interest. It'’s nice to see this company recognizing that and be willing to provide some housing for us.”

The mayor noted once the record of site condition is completed, the developers can start putting together building permit applications, which will then generate an estimate of what the total project value is.

He said that could be in the “hundreds of millions” of dollars.

At this point, Panciuk said there is no set timeline for when permits would be issued, but assured the developers are full steam ahead to make this project come to fruition.

“What I would say is, they've spent a lot of money to get to this point, and they're interested. I would expect that we will start to see some paper in the next year.”